The Crowd

The recording of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”

should have been renamed “Boys Just Want to Have Fun” to beat in the

background as some 60 gentlemen arrived at the Lido Isle Yacht Club this

past Monday evening for the club’s annual prime rib dinner.

A high level of spirited camaraderie was displayed by the fraternity of

local neighbors who gather to toast life and to raise a few dollars to

help kids in need.

“The money goes to Toys For Tots at the holidays,” said John Wortmann,

president of the Lido Isle Community Association and major booster of the

men’s club. “We are families helping kids whose families are less

fortunate. It’s a good thing.”

And it was a good thing -- the party that is. Real estate

developer/builder David Bradburne put on the full regalia, donning chef’s

whites and a big hat to prepare the prime rib of beef. Wortmann served as

maitre d’, outfitted in tux and sunglasses, showing the men’s club

patrons to their tables. Insiders report that a few unsavory guests were

shown to the end of the Lido dock. There were no casualties, but plenty

of laughs as guests roasted one another. Prime rib was not only served,

but spoken.

On Sunday before the event, Bradburne and Wortmann and his wife, Anne,

spent the better part of the day working side by side with men’s club

sous chef Chris Thomas, a prominent local attorney, and his wife, Diana

Thomas, a major local yacht financier with the firm Dimen Marine, making

60 individual baked Alaska desserts.

Anne Wortmann confided that the baked Alaska assembly line was more like

Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel gone berserk.

“Were still finding maraschino cherries that ran amok on Sunday,” she

mused. “Actually, if the truth is to be told, this whole men’s club thing

is just a reaction to the closing of the Cannery and Snug Harbor. No more

Snug, so join the Men’s Club,” chanted Mrs. Wortmann in rapper speak.

“Gee, that’s pretty good,” she said, repeating her newly created song to

the dismay of both her husband and his pal,Chris Thomas. Sometimes the

truth stings just a little.

The sold-out dinner by the bay featured the French Bordeaux wines of

Dennis Overstreet, Lido Isle resident, men’s club member and owner of the

renowned Wine Merchant of Beverly Hills.

“The Bordeaux was especially smooth with the baked Alaska,” said maitre

d’ Wortmann, enjoying the dinner with friends Corey Cosenza, men’s club

president, and Roger Osenbaugh, former major league pitching star and

present-day scribe working under the nom de plume of Phillip Dropcookie

(don’t ask).

Also in the crowd were Peter Grace, Gary Gray, Drew Ebright, Roger Paley,

Keith Lumpkin, Kimo McCormick, John Polavina, Brad Smith, Chris Miner,

Tom Arnold, Jeff Pence, Howie Freedland, David Wiggs, Brad Schroth,

Philip Bradburne (one of the younger men’s club associates), and one of

Lido’s friendlier moguls, Ira Rosenstein (a.k.a. Dr. Pepperstein).

In spite of Anne Wortmann’s suggestion that the men’s club was formed to

replace the sadly closed Cannery and Snug Harbor, in actuality, the

association was formed a couple years ago by Lido residents Grace and

Ebright.

The fraternity grew out of the Lido Isle Cigar Club and was created to

give men a chance to do a little bonding, a little business, share both

sporting and dining experiences, and to have a chance to talk about their

wives and kids.

All of that and more transpired Monday evening as the prime rib dinner

and the prime ribbing shared equal time with the Miami Dolphins and

Buffalo Bills on the Monday Night Football big screen. The only thing

missing was pretty Marlo Scott, the Lido Isle dancing sensation who turns

every island event into an extravaganza.

“We would have granted her an honorary pass, however, the men’s club

wants to be fair to all the wives,” said John Wortmann, with Anne looking

on as if to say “sure you do.”

The $25 dinner ticket actually made a profit for the Lido Isle Men’s

Club. The funds will add to the till established for holiday gifts for

less fortunate kids. With the holidays only two-plus months away, at

least two more dinners are in order as fund-raisers. Well, maybe not.

Other guys on hand for the fun included Michael Sitzer, Jim Anderson,

Bill Walker, Art Fries, Mike Baginski, Don Brown, John Sulafan, Wayne

Heck, Clark Leonard, Ron Millar and John Oyler.

Anne Wortmann, tempted to sing her new rap song, yet again refrained,

offering this bit of sage advice: “The wives know that the men do this

just so they can get out of the house. And we want them to know that we

understand, that it is perfectly all right. Why, I actually heard that

they tried to do some sort of sing-along at the dinner. Now that’s what I

callbonding.”

John Wortmann promised that they would never sing again. And you thought

life was dull and conservative on tony Lido Isle.